That day was not unlike many that preceded it except for the investigation team. John the
Baptist wasn’t doing his powerful preaching in the outskirts of the Temple. He didn’t fit there.
His message, his style, and his wardrobe was for an entirely different audience – one that was hungry, dying for hope, ready to give their lives to something worth living and dying for.
The investigation team from the Temple was on a mission to discover who this preacher was.
Was he the Messiah? Was he the long-anticipated Elijah, returning from his whirlwind tour of heaven? Was he a prophet?
John wasn’t happy to see them, and gave them an answer they could not have expected. He was the one prophesied about in Isaiah, the forerunner to the Messiah of God.
John was so impacted by the reality of the Messiah’s coming that his whole life reflected it. He wore weird clothes. He ate weird food. He preached a weird message. He was against the flow. His whole life was objectionable by many. He was scandalous.
He probably got some inspiration from his second cousin, Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Mary and Joseph had hopes for where their life would go. It involved a Chupah – the prayer cloth beneath which they would take their vows and even consummate their marriage.
But they never got the chance because God invited them into a scandal. The greatest scandal in history. A sex scandal no less.
Think about the core of the conversation that buzzed around Nazareth when Mary’s news started getting around. This was juicy stuff. And God orchestrated it.
In order for Mary and Joseph to say yes to God’s scandalous act of grace incarnate, they had to say yes to a host of other things as well: yes o humiliation; yes to misinterpretation; yes to broken relationships; yes to hurt feelings; yes to loneliness and fear. The list of difficult yes’s goes on and on.
But the most important thing they said yes to was God’s scandalous idea that God could dwell among us in the flesh. That God’s dream was bigger than theirs. That God’s plan would have greater impact than their plan. That God’s plan would ultimately be better for them, and better for all people that their plan.
To say yes to the scandal, to the revolution, was worth the struggle they would endure.
If you could go back in time and walk in their shoes knowing what you do know about how it all turned out, would you be up for it? It would be pretty cool to experience some of those miraculous things, wouldn’t it? You would, of course, do it knowing that it was going to work out incredibly great. You would probably say yes to the invitation to the scandal.
Do you realize, however, that being a Jesus follower is scandalous? Revolutionary? Rebellious?
How is your scandal going for you?
Not specific enough?
Okay, how’s your sex scandal going?
We live in a culture where sexuality has become so ordinary and commonplace that it is no longer treated as sacred, let alone as set aside for marriage.
So, I’m wondering, is your view of human sexuality scandalous in this world we live in?
What formed your view of sexuality? Until you have a clue as to the answer to that question, you and your view are not your own.
What is God’s call for your sexuality? How is it different than our culture’s? Is your way any different? Is it so Jesus-like that it may even be considered scandalous?
How about other areas of your life? What about you would others see as so obviously Jesus that they would say it’s scandalous, revolutionary, and rebellious against our cultural systems?
Mary and Joseph said yes in spite of all the struggles their yes implied. They said yes because they knew what was being offered. They said yes because they knew who was making the offer.
May it be so for you.
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